Viva la Vida
by Never-Land-4always
Summary: It wasn't true, what they said about that man. But "life is so fleeting", so well phrased by the artist, and she heard him singing. Recovering from near-fatal injuries in the Akatsuki's care, she learned what true loyalty was-and how to break  it.
1. Chapter 1

Well, I'm definitely neglecting Tide-Over now. Whatever. Sakura's seventeen, Itachi's nineteen. I just like them being closer in age. Naruto's not back from his three-year journey yet. Blah. (bows, runs away, trips. Owwww…)

Chapter 1

"Sakura, you're free for another long-term mission, right?"

Oh, Tsunade had no idea of the effects those words would have. Neither did Sakura.

"Sure. But I hope it's not another six-month stretch…?"

"Oh, no. Just a quick recon and recover mission in Iwa. It's just that the journey will take maybe a month, since you're traveling alone." So clueless. Tsunade would regret assigning that mission to Sakura for as long as she lived.

Sakura ran out of the village, navy blue cloak and satchel secured tightly. Her assignment scroll was clutched in one hand.

_Rank: A_

_Approx. duration: 3 months_

_Summary: _

_You are to enter Iwagakure under cover. Gain access to the Tsuchikage Tower and locate information on Iwa's planned battles. It is strongly suspected that Iwa intends to invade Konhagakure. Secretly sabotage all attempts to do so and then immediately return. Iwa has a "kill on sight" policy for invaders, so you will be disguised as a wandering medic of the Earth Country. Do not break cover. _

Sakura squeezed the scroll until it crumbled, using a faint layer of chakra to help. It was custom to destroy assignment scrolls when on an undercover mission.

Bouncing from tree to tree, Sakura took a small mirror from her fanny pouch and examined her new face again. Since her face and hair were so recognizable (like, hello, HOW many kunoichi have naturally PINK hair?), a Glimmer Jutsu specialist had altered her hair, eyes, and face. Now Sakura's face had a distinct Earth look to them: oval face, big slanted eyes, and strong, fine features. Her hair was now cropped short with long, straight bangs covering one eye, since that was apparently the most popular fashion. Her hair was black streaked with bright orange, but her eyes, Sakura though, were the prettiest. They were not one color. They were red and gold and orange and ash-white, and sometimes there were hints of blue as well. It was like she had two live coals for eyes.

The best part about this was that it wasn't an eye-fooling jutsu. Glimmer Jutsus actually physically rearranged the face and body, so no chakra was required to keep up the illusion. The Glimmer would stay until the caster personally removed it. However, Glimmer Jutsus took almost an hour to solidify, and she had left before the hour was up. Tsunade had bid farewell to a black-haired, long-haired, green-eyed Sakura.

Sakura had also been given a new specialty arsenal as part of her disguise. Instead of poison and monster strength, she was now a Sun's Ash specialist. She already had Fire nature chakra, and she knew Sun's Ash fairly well. All she had to do was use three hand seals to fill the air with choking black ash. Then she activated it, and the ash would glow so intensely that it first blinded, and then disintegrated the enemy in less than a millisecond. It was death at the speed of light.

She was going to be a wandering medic-nin, a medic who had opted to leave the life of a shinobi but had been trained in medical jutsus. That way she wouldn't have to fabricate a village headband.

Sakura put away the mirror and let the warmth of chakra fill the soles of her feet, speeding up her steps many times over. But she had to be careful not to leave dents on the branches. "No physical trails, no fires, no blood. No physical…" she muttered. That mantra had been the first lesson for the students in the Stealth & Concealment class at Academy; and muttering helped pass the time. Not bounce, bounce, bounce. It was mutter, bounce, mutter, bounce. A much better rhythm.

Sakura passed through almost a fourth of Fire Country that day. As the sun began to set in a slow, frozen blaze of pink and gold, she came across a small, natural clearing beside a tiny sparkling stream.

Dropping soundlessly to the earth, Sakura took a moment to close her eyes and let her harsh breathing slow. Let her chakra rush across the area like a tiny breeze. Feel the forest and its inhabitants. _Nobody here. Good, because I'm tired as hell._

But she saw something as she opened her heavy, itchy, fire-colored eyes. It was a miniscule, distinct dash of white in the fading gold sun and purple shadows. Anybody who was not a shinobi would not have seen it.

Sakura hadn't felt any chakra nearby, so she walked to the tree at the foot of which rested the tiny white thing. It was a delicate bird statue, she saw as she bent over. It stood on the tree's exposed root, little eyes closed. There was a ruff of symmetrical squared feathers around its neck.

She picked it up hesitantly. Who had put it here? It felt like cold, baked clay in her hot palm. So, so tiny. It looked like it could crumble if she put any pressure on it.

Shrugging, she turned, the bird in her loose fist. Finding a tree with thick, spreading branches to protect from possible rain, Sakura sank down onto the damp dead leaves and fell asleep.

The days quickly fell into a dull pattern, broken only by Sakura's brief stops in civilian villages to restock her small food supplies. It rained for three days straight after the beginning of her journey, making the thick trees have an ethereal green-gray glow to them as the tiny water drops fell from the leaves and refracted whatever light leaked through the heavy silver clouds. Sakura was forced to use a soldier pill on the third day, so she could continue using chakra to keep from slipping on the slick, mossy bark.

Then came four days of maddening heat, baking the rain out of the ground and into the air—and then directly into Sakura's already-pressed lungs. Her bangs stuck to her forehead and dried there, and she had to keep brushing away the hairs as they got tangled in her eyelashes. She still hadn't gotten the hang of leaping with her head tilted, so the bangs flew back and let a tepid breeze blow away some of the heat from her damp, flushed skin. The trees were beginning to thin, fortunately, as she approached the border of Fire country.

One slightly cooler day, with faint hazy clouds splashed across the pale blue sky, Sakura saw a tiny town, only a few dingy wooden buildings along the dirt road. But there was a convenience store, and she was out of the iodine pills she used to purify water from the puddles that sometimes were the only water around.

As Sakura swung open the dusty glass door, a plump young woman came hurrying up to her. "Hello, good afternoon, Miss, how can I help you?" she said in one rush. _Must not get many customers,_ thought Sakura.

"Yeah, I just need some iodine pills, and if you have any, could I look at some maps?"

The woman nodded and scurried off, light brown braid swinging. Sakura took the opportunity to bend over and examine the, luckily, fresh newspapers stacked beside the counter. There wasn't much to see. A mudslide had almost buried a village, but somehow stopped fifty yard away from it. Lucky…And an art museum was displaying a large collection by some anonymous donor: sculptures, origami, human-sized puppets, an abstract self-portrait (there was a tag identifying it as such), and eye-tricking silver creations that weren't quite sculptures. There were photos of the silver things, and the origami.

A small white bottle was suddenly thrust into Sakura's limp hand. Startled, she turned and saw the woman also brandishing a fistful of brightly colored maps.

Sakura scanned the maps quickly and found them accurate and fairly current, so she bought the pills and all the maps. The woman seemed very glad to have any customer at all, so Sakura bought a heavy enamel coffee mug (the most expensive thing in the store) out of pity for the hard-up shopkeeper.

Outside, crouched in the muggy shade of a dying oak tree, Sakura looked at the largest map more carefully. She was probably three day from the Fire border, closer than she'd thought. It would be another day in Rain, and then she would be in Stone.

The next three day were totally unremarkable—actually, they were mind-numbing. Nothing happened, except the final edge of the forest thinned out until Sakura was running across a dirt road in the middle of endless grasslands. Her satchel bounced with ever step, but she was thankful that with this new super-short haircut the handle didn't catch on her hair.

And then Sakura was approaching the border with Rain. She had to be careful here; sneaking through wasn't an option unless she wanted to arouse suspicion, so she had to cross the actual legal check-point.

The orange-haired ninja barely looked up as Sakura passed him her false documents identifying herself as a wandering medic-nin. He shuffled the sheaf and waved her through. He was probably some jounin put there to guard any forced entrances—but there were no forced entrances. Ever. So he was probably dying of boredom, as well.

Sakura stopped by a clothing shop and purchased the inevitable hooded poncho and boots. She got the lightest boots there, so she could run properly. Outside, the gray sky was drizzling already, a breeze blowing it into a mist that coated the entire city. She could hardly see.

Throughout her two-hour journey in the city, Sakura kept her chakra subdued and heavily masked. It would not do for some Sensory type to detect a Fire nature chakra—and a huge amount of the chakra, at that—roaming the city. Almost everybody in Rain had Water nature chakra. This place was rumored to be the Akatsuki's headquarters, too. Sakura jumped every time she saw red and black, but it was always just some civilian's poncho.

The back of the city, facing the interior of the country, was rather seedy. Sodden advertisements for risqué establishments littered the dim, muddy streets, and drunkards leered and catcalled from every alley and corner. Sakura shuddered at one particularly graphic exclamation and hurried out of the city.

Now there was the occasional splash of icy mud in Sakura's face to break the chilly, damp monotony. Her satchel strained uncomfortably under the poncho, but it wasn't waterproof and had to be kept under wraps. Jagged rocks hid beneath the mud, tripping Sakura several times. It would take longer to get out or Rain than she had expected.

When the already dark sky dimmed until Sakura couldn't see her feet, she stopped and felt out a relatively dry cave near the road. Rain was riddled with the stone pockets, a useful thing when it basically rained constantly in the entire country. She pulled up her hood more securely and fell asleep.

She woke with a jerk. Someone was hitting her. Hard. She could barely breathe—and couldn't see in the night's utter blackness. But if she unmasked her chakra to find out who was there, she would give herself away as a Fire shinobi.

_Wham. Wham. Wham._ Sakura coughed, and a moan escaped her. The blows pinned her to the rock. Her back was bruising. She couldn't move.

"Well, looks like our little kunoichi's up," a sneering female voice said. The punches stopped, and Sakura sagged, fighting to drag air into her lungs. She didn't succeed. There was a horrible growing heat deep in her chest, like her internal organs were being crushed. Sakura recognized the symptoms of a collapsed lung.

"Get up, brat." A deep male voice sounded now, sounding like there were cotton balls stuffed in Sakura's ears. She struggled to her feet.

"Some ninja _you_ are. You hardly masked your chakra at all!" piped up a squeakily androgynous voice. Sakura winced, struggling to get to her feet. They knew already, so it wouldn't hurt to use her chakra a little.

She sent a feeble stream to her eyes. She knew that she was only getting about twenty percent of the oxygen she needed—Sakura would collapse within five minutes.

With her flickering, chakra-aided eyes, Sakura saw three ninja, all of them about the same size. They held long daggers, and wore Rain headbands. That was about all she could see.

The closest ninja stepped forward and slapped Sakura. Her knees went out from under her, and she slid sideways, smacking her head on the rock. Sakura was getting desperate, now. "Well, girly, you gonna tell us where you're from?" It was the first kunoichi, the one who had been punching Sakura to wake her up.

Sakura tried to say "Go to hell," but nothing but a trickle of blood and the very last of her air came out. The kunoichi swore viciously and kicked Sakura's leg. There must have been some sort of spike or blade on it, because Sakura felt her skin break at the same time as her bone.

_Air. Air. Air. Breathe! _

A shuddering in the ground Sakura's head lay on told of another person's approach. But she couldn't feel scared now. Just the desperate desire to breathe, to draw fresh air into whole, healthy lungs.

"What the hell are you doing?" A deep, reedy, laughing voice.

"Fool." A soft, deep, smooth voice. Sakura…knew that voice. But…who…

She blacked out just before the first kunoichi screamed.

"_You little brat!"_

"_Who do you think you are, parading around with that mountain of a forehead in front of us?" _

"_And that disgusting, tawdry hair! You make me sick."_

_Sakura shrunk back, eyes wide beneath the fringe of pink hair. The older girls had cornered her behind the Academy. Her nose was bleeding. _

"_Seriously, girl. You're a blight upon this _lovely_ city and you need to go. Why don't we hurt you just a little so your dumb civilian parents wills see how much they need to move?"_

_They hurt her then. Sakura felt her wrist snap. It was the worst injury she had had in her short life, and the pain was overwhelming. But now little cuts, scrapes, pounding…_

_She wanted nothing but for them to stop. Just stop hurting, stop jeering. Stop. Stop. "STOP!"_

_Footsteps running. Sakura could hear them over her quiet sobbing. The girls stopped very suddenly._

"_What the hell are you doing?" It was a boy's voice. _

"_Fool." another boy snapped. "You girls," he said to the gang standing near, "Get away from her. I should do the same to you what's been done to her, but I'll count to four thousand very slowly, so you have a fraction of a chance at getting away first. One. Two."_

_Sakura looked up, tears streaming down her face, and saw two boys, maybe eight or nine, standing over her. The bullies were running away as fast as they could._

_The boy who had threatened them was holding out a hand. "Are you hurt badly?"_

_Sakura held up her broken wrist dumbly._

_He huffed. "Well, my name's Uchiha Itachi. You're Haruno Sakura, right? Let's get you to the hospital. Come on, Shisui."_

I ask for reviews, yes, for they feed me. Feed me! I'll give you cookies!


	2. Chapter 2

I AM. BACK. OH HECK YESSSSS IT FEELS GOOD TO TYPE AGAIN.

So, for y'all who were groaning at my prolonged absence from those "new chapter" alerts, here is my explanation:

I was grounded. Yup. My computer is currently imprisoned, wailing from the clutches of those horrible things called "Parents". (jk, btw. I still love them.)

ANYWAY. I FEEL GUILTY FOR NOT UPDATING. ANYWAY.

Chapter Two: Heart Attack

"Hello?"

Sakura scowled, her eyes closed tight. There was something heavy on her chest. There was bright light in her face.

"You alive? Coz he'll kill me if you die. Then I'll follow you around in the afterlife, moaning. Do you want that? Come on, I know you're awake. Your heart rate just rose, plus your breathing changed."

There was a voice there. Ino? Ino…No. This voice was deeper. It was a grown woman's voice. Not Tsunade-shishou's sake-rough voice, either.

Panic began nibbling at the edges of Sakura's mind. What was on her chest? Where was she?

Sakura tried to open her eyes and shut them immediately. A bright white spear of light pierced her head like a blade, making her eyes water. The woman chuckled.

"You _are_ alive! Now—" A door opened nearby, cutting off the woman's speech, and soft footsteps approached.

The woman spoke, her voice irritated. "Hidan. What is it? She just woke up!"

Hidan. Please, no. No. The panic began to chomp instead of nibble.

A loud, arrogant voice spoke. "Yeah, whatever. Leader-sama wants you."

"And I suppose he sent you to watch her? Not likely."

"No. She won't run with injuries like that."

"Oh, great. Tell him I'll be there as soon as I can."

Hidan grunted and left, the door clicking behind him loudly. Sakura suppressed a whimper.

The woman pressed her hand to Sakura's bandaged forehead, making the black-haired girl shrink back and squint. "Oh, dear. I'm not going to hurt you unless you try to hurt me, you know."

Sakura frowned. The woman hummed briefly. The melody was bright—Sakura immediately thought, _It sounds so…hopeful_. In spite of herself, the corner of her mouth twitched in what might have been a smile.

"Oh, do you like it? It's Tachi-kun's newest song. I swear, that child has more musical talent than Orochimaru's flutist."

Sakura digested this. Tachi…Well, she was, unfortunately, in Akatsuki, if she remembered Hidan correctly. Tachi….Itachi. Itachi was a musician?

Sakura tried to open her eyes again, swallowing the fear that rose in her throat. The woman squeaked. "Ah! That's great—but open slowly. The sun's pretty bright right now. I'm Konan, by the way."

_Who? What kind of name's Konan?_

"Well, I have to go now. Please feel free to sit up if you can, but don't get out of bed or your leg might break again. I'm not the best healer…And don't take any really deep breaths. Two of your ribs actually went _into_ your lung." Sakura could almost hear Konan shudder.

Sakura squinted and watched Konan's retreat towards the door. Her hair was blue.

She turned her head slowly and took a long, slow breath. She recalled her training for what to do in case of capture.

Plan A: Escape. That wasn't an option, not with these injuries. Also, the Akatsuki didn't seem to know who she was. Her escape would alert them to the fact that she knew who they were and that of course would lead right to their realization that she was an enemy shinobi.

Ack, Plan B, Plan B…Gather information, as much of it as possible. Well, that was probably the best…

"This…ire…chi?"

"…Sicker…on't…awake…achi-kun…njury…concussion."

"He's not…isks…tirely too…t…onoha!"

"She…ossibly…die, Pein!"

"And tha…eason…nvade…ind of…erson…out...permission?"

"…Just a child...erk…let her…die? Not …happen!...Fever…delirious as…ell...ition to …cussion."

"…Noha…war, Konan! What…think…oichi…mind's…invaded by worst…Uchiha?"

Sakura wasn't sure where she was. It sounded like Shizune-chan and Kakashi-sensei...were arguing? Why…? She couldn't hear them well, the two voices blurring in and out. Why were they fighting? Was somebody sick? Kakashi-sensei said something about war. Who…was dying? They said Sasuke's surname repeatedly.

Something was very wrong. Sakura's head kept falling off her shoulders, falling, until it hit the floor with a thud, and then rose again, fell again. Then she fell, her whole body, and her body was ripping inside out and she was screaming and nobody could hear her and she was alone in the blackness and pain.

Somebody was saying something somewhere. Sakura had a feeling it was being said to her. She struggled to find the direction in which to turn, to go to find the voice.

This voice was deep, calling her. Two glittering red and black eyes were looking at Sakura. Those eyes _saw_ her, like nobody had ever seen her before. The eyes saw into her soul, saw who she was, and loved her for being who she was and Sakura felt a deep love for it.

The eyes took away the pain. They healed her, released her.

The voice said something. Said her name. "Sakura…Sakura-san, can you hear me?"

Sakura awoke with the feeling of coming up from a deep lake. Surrounding her was dark coolness, and above her, closer and closer, was such beautiful light. The voice pulled her up, saying her name.

"I…hear you."

Sakura opened her eyes as she said the words. She opened her eyes…and looked straight into the face of Itachi Uchiha.

REVIEW OR I EAT YOU. YOUR CHOICE.


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, hey hey, peeps, whassup? Well, as for moi, I just found out that at my local library, they don't allow access to Fanfic! -frowns- Something or other about sexual materials. WHATEVAH. I'm just gonna go open up Word and WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTER. (and to the darling Lloigor: Of course it won't get fluffy! Fluff is for wimps who can't make a decent plot. I AM NOT A WIMP. To the most polite XxBirdsxofxHermesxX: Yes, I am a madam. I will make more. Oh, you wanna fight? I WILL CONTINUE. (wiggles eyebrows suggestively) And I'll only eat you if you flame for the sake of being a troll..or don't review. (speaks to everybody) Really, you guys, I love you, but it makes me feel hurt when I post awesomeness and you're...silent. Notable for your lack of reviewing. ON MY BLACKLIST, UN.

Chapter Three

Sakura, for a moment, could have sworn she was looking at a girl—but then, of, course, it was the uncomfortably familiar _male _face of The Uchiha.

He was looking at her intently, his sharply angled eyebrows pinched together. "Haruno-san?"

Sakura flinched. That was that, then. They knew who she was. There would be torture, almost certainly worse than what those other ninjas did.

Itachi cleared his throat. "Haruno-san. You dyed your hair."

Sakura's eyes widened in bemusement. He was...talking about her...hair? This monster wanted to have a salon chat?

"No. I didn't." The words scratched her throat. "A Glamour Jutsu."

He nodded. "That would explain your eyes. I was rather confused when I found the mind of a pink-haired green-eyed Konoha kunoichi in the body of a black-haired orange-eyed Stone kunoichi."

"But-"

He frowned. "But what?"

Sakura turned her head to the side. She was still in the infirmary bed, but now the clean pink light of dawn spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows at the other side of the room.

She cleared her throat and tried not to wince. She couldn't show any weakness in front of this man. "But...this is the Akatsuki."

He nodded.

"And I'm still alive. So what do you want? You must want something—you know who I am."

He shook his head, his bangs falling from behind his ears so they framed his cheekbones in a glossy—_Ew, Saks. This is not a cute boy to drool over, girl!_

"We want nothing." he stated quietly.

"Bullshit. You—you're not a humanitarian group! Why am I here? Do you want info? 'Cause you're not getting it as easily as you might think!"

Itachi smiled for the first time, and the glittering cold grin made Sakura feel chilled to the tips of her toes.

"Nuke-nin...does not mean inhuman." he said, and rose from his chair and left.

A few minutes later, Konan came hurrying into the infirmary. "What did you do, pull his hair?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Itachi is stomping around the base mumbling. He also has an emo cloud the size of a cumulonimbus hovering over his head. Usually, it's just a light cirrus. Hm?"

Sakura felt drawn to this woman's energy the way she felt drawn to Ino. Ah—Ino. She would never know what had happened to Sakura, would she? Nobody would. She wouldn't come home after the few months that her mission was supposed to take, and by then she would probably be dead. Nobody from her home would ever see her again. Sakura would not get to see Konoha ever again.

To her horror, Sakura's eyes filled with tears. Oh, her eyes. What she wouldn't give to die with her own two apple-green eyes instead of these fire-colored ones.

Konan, of course, noticed the other girl's weeping. She sat quickly down on the side of the bed and surprised Sakura by not hitting her for being weak but embracing her instead.

Sakura felt a twinge as the blue-haired woman squeezed gently. She was bent over so Sakura, who was lying down, so that she wouldn't have to sit up and hurt her chest even more.

"Oh, poor child," murmured Konan. "We don't want to hurt you and we don't want you to betray your village. Just rest and heal, Sakura. Please, don't be scared."

Sakura sniffed. Konan's comforting had begun to make her sob with deep cough-like shudders, hurting her chest. She hadn't been held like this since she was four. The blue hair beside her face smelled like roses and new books.

Finally, Sakura's crying subsided and Konan sat up, a faint sympathetic smile on her face.

Sakura blinked away the last of the tears. "Why...why'd you do it? Save me?"

Konan laughed. "_I_ didn't save you. It was Itachi both times."

"Both times?"

"Yeah. You had one of Deidara's clay birds on your pack. It was fairly recent, so it still had chakra in it. When Deidara felt your chakra mixing with it, he thought somebody was trying to copy his technique. He alerted Itachi and Kisame, who were closest, to your location...and they found you and brought you back."

"And the other time?"

"Well, you woke up yesterday evening and seemed okay, but a couple hours later you had a really high fever. You were delirious and the concussion was much worse, it turned out, than I had earlier thought. Maybe you were fighting off a cold before you were injured; but I couldn't risk you getting brain damage from the fever..so I..."

Sakura felt a chill. Konan was looking distinctly uncomfortable.

"You did what?" Sakura demanded.

"I...had Itachi use his eyes to go into your mind and heal it. The fever went away too."

Sakura almost gagged. _That_ was the dream about red eyes healing her. It was true. The Uchiha had been into her mind, seen her most private thoughts. No wonder he knew her name!

Konan put her hand on Sakura's shoulder. "I'm so sorry. I-It was the only way."

Sakura shook her off, he reyes filling with tears at the resulting pain. "Way to what? You should have let me die. I'd rather take that option instead of the Uchiha inva...inv..."

Sakura couldn't go on. She was so hot...

AND I CAN"T WRITE ANYMORE THIS MINUTE. R&R OR GET EATEN. OR FLAME AND GET EATEN.


	4. Chapter 4

HELLO. I am not dead. I am alive and very ashamed. Please forgive me for not updating in months. Reasons, you ask? Well, let's just say that I MOVED TO THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. SERIOUSLY.

Disclaimer: The anime/manga Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and whoever else publishes it or whatever. The lyrics to the song "Viva La Vida" were not written by me and belong to the band Coldplay. Or whoever wrote that song for them. None of it is mine! So don't sue me!

Chapter Five

Sakura set down her cup suddenly. The dregs at the bottom were unbearably bitter.

Konan grimaced. She had finished her tea too. "Guess I've still got a ways to go, huh?"

Sakura snorted quietly. "Hardly. If you'd just stop making it with the toasted tea leaves..."

"Well, when Tachi-kun makes it, it's really good. But Kakuzu-san would strangle me with his tentacles if I wasted this to get regular tea."

Sakura nodded. _Don't think about him. Don't think._ That was how Sakura was getting though her days now. Not thinking, going with the moment. It helped with both the physical and mental pain.

"Sakura, I've got to go," said Konan. "I'll check on you later, okay? Wheelchair's right here."

"Okay. Thanks, Konan."

Konan placed the tea things on a tray and left quietly. Red afternoon light was filtering through the gauze curtains, outlining the wisps of clouds drifting by. Wherever the base was (and Sakura still didn't know), it was very high up .

Sakura laid down for a few minutes, just breathing. Then she sat up slowly, exhaling, and drew the wheelchair closer.

The base was beautiful, a gorgeous example of Rain architecture. Domed roofs had sparkling bits of glass inlaid in dripping patterns against silver backing, like rain on windows. Cloud-shaped alcove shelves let glittering trickles of filtered rainwater splash down onto the upraised hands of granite goddesses. The floors had some kind of jutsu under them that caused the black and blue patterns in the gray granite tiling to swirl like clouds.

Sakura had only gone exploring once before-and Deidara had scared the stitches out of her. He had placed a little clay fly on the wall and detonated it when she passed by. That had been two weeks ago, a week after Uchiha had gone into her head.

Now Sakura followed the gently sloping spiral corridors downwards. The light grew steadily dimmer, until every window she saw was misted with water drops and the view beyond was obscured by clouds.

Sakura knew very little about the base's layout, but she did know that two floors down were the private quarters of two pairs of the Akatsuki- Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame, and Deidara and Sasori. The various Akatsuki pairs were rarely in the base together at the same time-thank goodness. Who was having seizures when they decided to place UCHIHA and DEIDARA on the SAME FLOOR? It was like putting two angry bulls together in a china shop.

Sakura paused, her stomach writhing. There was a noise from the floor underneath her. Was she hearing footsteps? _Whose_? Konan didn't walk like that.

_Boom baba boomboom. Boom. Boom baba boomboom. Boom._

Underlying the thick, muffled thuds, Sakura could just barely hear a high tinkle, separate from that of the fountains.

_Music_?

She sped up a little, the soft rubber on her wheelchair squishing faintly. She passed a shattered Rainbow kami statue, its two long, brightly painted arms each holding one splintered half of a crystal arc. There were scorch marks behind it, chalky black reminders of anger.

Sakura turned a corner and saw a pair of solid black doors. On one, there were great turquoise and amber fish with human eyes, leaping from a huge aquamarine tsunami. On the other...

The Uchiha fan was there, in mother-of-pearl and ruby. It fanned flames of gold and beryl, black onyx smoke trailing up to the top of the door. Blurry silver figures seemed to flicker at the bottom, their only clear feature their bright crimson eyes.

The music was coming from behind those doors. She was sure of it. And just here, listening, she could tell with equal confidence that the music was not a recording. Someone was singing, making music in a cage of glassy mist.

Yes, someone was singing. His voice sounded rough, like he was recovering from an illness. But it didn't crack on the high notes, and even faint as the voice was, one very low note sent a wave of nausea through Sakura. That was an emotion, that note, though she couldn't tell what it was. Something dark and wistful. A secret emotion.

The music drew her forwards. All her body, even her bandages, seemed to be being tugged gently towards those jewelled doors. She locked gazes with one of the figures at the bottom. Its eyes seemed, just for a moment, to soften into a cool black.

Sakura touched the cool glass doorknob. The door clicked open easily.

Two hallways split before her. She took the left one, the one with copper flames engulfing the ceramic Uchiha fan over the threshold.

Her wheelchair, thankfully, did not squeak. The music was intensifying until she could no longer tell whether the thudding was her frightened heart or a deep, bass drum. Soft electric light lit the way.

She reached two open doorways and stopped, suddenly terrified. What had she been thinking?

If it was Uchiha Itachi in there, he would kill her.

Still...

The music...

That voice was the tell of a broken heart. It flew! It dove! It raised a question in Sakura's subconscious that itched like a forgotten name.

Sakura gently moved forward. She knew that having one's heart in one's mouth was anatomically impossible, but there was _something_ choking her.

She peeked around the doorway.

Uchiha Itachi stood twenty feet away from her, his back to her. One foot tapped rhythmically on the pedal of a bass drum; his arms and hands were occupied by a delicate violin and bow. As Sakura watched, her casually raised the bow and drew its tip softly along a set of glass chimes. The bow sprang back to its strings then, moving like it had never stopped playing.

"_One minute I held the key_  
><em>Next the walls were closed on me.<em>  
><em>And I discovered that my castles stand<em>  
><em>Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand!"<em>

Sakura clutched one arm to her chest.  
>she<br>was

flying- apart-

Uchiha whirled around.

Sakura's mind, suddenly clear now that the singing had stopped, released two thoughts.

Oh. Shit.

_Run. Runrunrunrurnrunrunrunrunrun rnrunrunrunohgod run_

But there's no such thing as running in a wheelchair.

****Ooooh, cliffhanger OR WHAT? REVIEW, PLEASE!**** 


	5. Chapter 5

Oh hai there. Oy, YKW? Please please review...I'll sit in my armchair and squeal if you do. It makes somebody very happy and takes thirty seconds for you. :D *I RHYMED. DO, YOU, GET IT?* XD

Chapter Six

Sakura was not well. At all.

Uchiha hadn't followed her. She had gotten away from those flickering doors as fast as she could and wheeled herself to wherever she was now.

It was dark. She was surrounded by arms and faces, glittering faintly. Soft rustles hissed by her face as she breathed. She was about to tip out of her wheelchair...Why was everything watching? The faces...Faces...STOPNONO...DON'TLOOKATMESTOP

"Eh? Haruno?"

Sakura let out a hoarse cry as a strong hand clamped onto her shoulder. She wasn't falling anymore...It was still so dark...who's therewhat'shappening

"Oi, Haruno, what's wrong, un? What're you doing in here...Haruno...?"

Sakura looked up, tears running coldly under her chin. Her vision was shaky, but she could make out huge, glittering eyes, rimmed in black. Something soft brushed her face and she realized it was Deidara's hair, it was Deidara leaning over her, staring at her face. She tried to speak, to say she was alright, but that wasn't true, was it? And her throat was sore, like it was bruised and swelling so tightly...

"Are you hurt? Hurt more, I mean? What happened?" Deidara asked, both his hands cupping her face. He brushed her long black bangs away and snapped his fingers. Lights flared in hidden alcoves along the plain cream walls of the small room. He turned her face right to left, checking for any fresh bruises or wounds. "Did you meet someone? Who was it?"

Sakura unblocked her throat with a feeling of stinging, ripping tissue. "Uch-uchi..." The name fades from her lips at the look on Deidara's face.

"He hurt you? Did he...that bastard! Did he use his Sharingan?" He spun away and kicked at a puppet head, one of the ones Sakura realized had been the faces staring at her.

"N-no...Deidara...it's okay. He didn't hurt me...I'm just..." _Just what, Forehead? Scared? He didn't do anything to you, didn't even say anything! But now he's turned you into a stuttering mess!_

"Deidara-san, h-how come you're so upset?" Sakura asked before her brain had caught up with her mouth.

Deidara pivoted, his hair flaring out behind him. He absently brushed a wood shaving from the blond locks. "Uchiha is a bastard, un. He's got no appreciation for art, the creep. Just everlasting staring contests..." He frowned at her. "What were you doing near him?"

"I was exploring up near the infirmary, and I-I heard...music."

Deidara rolled his eyes. "Yeah, the Akatsuki canary. I can't believe he didn't even soundproof his room, I can't get any sleep because he just warbles all night long...and yet Kisame hasn't strangled him yet. It's weird how well they get along. Me and Sasori-danna, it's just everlasting squabbling...and that's how it should be, right? Professional disagreement, un."

Sakura giggled. "Exactly...like with me and Ino-chan...we fought so much you'd think we were horrible enemies."

Deidara wiped away a tear that was still trickling down her cheek with a the trailing end of a bandage. "There, un. All cheered up. You're not hurt? Really?"

Sakura nodded. "Thanks, Deidara-san. ...So...where am I?"

Deidara cracked his neck, making Sakura shudder. "You're in Sasori-danna's workroom. He makes random puppets in here and he's such a slob, sawdust and wood shavings everywhere..." he trailed off, grinning. "If he caught us in here he'd go insane. He's all cool and all usually, you know, but when people mess with his puppets...uhg."

"How'd you find me?"

"I heard you yelling, un. Now, we'd better get out. Can you find your way back to the infirmary?"

Sakura nodded again and they left the room. The music had started up again, a different melody now. She set off up the hallway and Deidara, waving, went into his own room (with an inlay that flashed and changed as the door moved).

Sakura was happy, for once. Deidara was a good guy, she thought. He reminded her of somebody...Kiba, maybe? Yeah, he was just like Kiba. He gave off that sense of solidity, like he wouldn't ever go running off or switch loyalties for the heck of it...and it was so sweet how he talked about Sasori. The puppeteer was obviously very important to Deidara. It was like the way Azuma-sensei talked about Kurenai-sen-

Sakura stopped. She stopped thinking. She stopped moving. _No. You idiot, no! What are you...what's wrong with you? They're the _Akatsuki_, for crying out loud! You can't do this! _

They were the Akatsuki. They were the Akatsuki. They were evil. They wanted to kill Naruto, they wanted to destroy everything and everybody Sakura cared about...and she was...chatting. With them. Chatting like they were her friends. Like they weren't going to torture the very marrow from her bones and then kill her.

Sakura hissed loudly, the sound echoing down the ethereal corridors. What had she been thinking? Konan, that bitch! Trying to make pretty-face with Sakura, making tea and hugging her...She'd fallen for it. How could she? Fall for the most obvious trick that the genins learned their first year at the Academy! _Don't ever, ever bond with your captors. Don't make friends. Don't trust them. If they are your enemies, they want something from you and they will try friendliness first. _

Damn them. Friendliness first! Well, Sakura knew what she needed to do.

And she, being a medic-nin, knew exactly how to do it.

Oh. Ohohohoho. Read on. Also review. Just click on that button down there...it's not hard. Type somthing nice. Preferably something specific about the characters or plot, but I'm not picky. I'll love you if you just say "This is a great story. Keep writing!" or something like that. :-) Seriously. I only write if I know people are reading it and like it enough to say something. 3 


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